This is probably one of the long posts I will be typing up. I came across a video game that has something to do with Rome and can’t help but spot the similarity between Rome, and the US, and my own real estate business. Is history repeating itself?
- They use free labor to make goods
There is no secret that Rome’s citizen is rich, or at least used to be. But who make their goods? the answer is the Slave. Rome has to conquer to get more land and therefore more slaves. Rome itself couldn’t produce anything by themselves, or they think they are too good for it, and make the slave do all the works. Guess what when the salve is no longer around or revolt? they bring Rome down with them.
We don’t have slaves in modern society anymore but guess who makes all our goods? you bet, it’s China, and what happens when covid hit? I couldn’t even buy a pair of tennis shoes or get my hand on a stove at Best Buy, the shelves were empty. This should be a wakeup call for all of us
In your real estate business, who is doing the heavy lifting in your company, is it you, or is it somebody else, do you treat them well? or do you treat them like slave? What happen when that person quit? If you don’t know, or you don’t care, then you are in trouble.
2. They don’t remember where they came from
Don’t quote me on this, but I think there are two classes in Rome, the patricians (the rich), and the plebeians (the poor). The plebeians of course want to become rich and they do whatever it takes to get to become a patrician. And guess what when they get rich? They forgot that they used to be a plebeian and didn’t help any of their kind. We have the classic problem of the rich is getting richer and the poor getting poorer. The problem compounds over hundreds of years and eventually led to the failure of society and the fall of Rome.
Look at the US now, where is the middle class? It’s gone… They either move up to be the patricians or go down to join the plebeians. the Gap between rich and poor widen every year thanks to our monetary policy that crushed everyone’s saving… we will talk about this later.
In your real estate business. Do you remember where you came from? Do you pay tribute paying respect to the people that help you in the beginning? For those of you that are in the “I made it league”, do you paying it forward and help your fellow new real estate agents, who are just like you once couple of years ago? Or do you take advantage of the new people? Do you get rich by yourself, or everyone around you is getting rich together with you?
3. Debt
Debt is a two-edged sword. Unfortunately for Rome, near the end of their empire, they caught the bad end of the sword. With un-controllable expense, the Government are in debt, the people are in debt. For the plebeians, they would do anything to get out of debt. The government realizes this and use debt as a political power to control the people. Let’s give them bread, forgive their debt, and they will do as I said, why not right?
Is our country using debt right now to invest? Or are we using debt to pay for goods that we can’t afford, or can’t produce? Is the country swing toward capitalism right now? or the people is voting toward more socialism end? Hey as long as I said I will forgive their student loan, they will vote for me, why not right?
In your business, is debt controlling your decision? Do you have good debt or bad debt? are you using debt to expand? or are you using debt to consume? learn it from the people in the country that failed before you.
4. They think they can print their way out of the problem
This is perhaps the single biggest item that contributes to the fall of Rome. As Rome expand their empire and cost ramp-up. perhaps one Cesar comes up with a brilliant idea of using less silver and less gold in the Romans coins. Inflation shoots through the roof, plebeians get poorer, the rich get richer, and there goes down the society with it. I need to read up more about this, but I am sure Rome debasing their currency at one point and all a sudden the cost of living went through the roof.
Look at Venezuela, look at the US, look at our debt, look at how we solve problems now, not by increasing production, but by printing more money.
For your business, what are you doing to protect your finance are your personal finance against inflation and hyperinflation? Do you hold your wealth in silver, in gold, in real estate, in bitcoin, or do you hold them in….cash?
5. They underestimate the Barbarians
We all heard about the story of how the Barbarians took out Rome, the famous story of Attila the Huns raged through Rome and closed to finish them off. How come the most advanced army and empire got taken out by…barbarians?
After all, barbarians are like cavemen…why would Rome fear the cavemen? Well, the rest is history.
How come the most advanced countries in the world are struggling against terrorism?
In your business, do you underestimate your opponents? How come little company like eXp realty that everyone used to laugh at is now worth 5.04 Billion and is trading on the NASDAQ? How come a company that provide Airbed and breakfast have more listing than 5 of the top hotel chain combines?
Conclusions:
I guess history repeats itself over and over. we can’t avoid it. we can’t control it. But we can learn from it and be better prepared for the present, and the future.
